Traditional media distribution systems such as broadcasting lack the ability to profile consumer preferences in order to provide customized media content. For example, such customized media content may include targeted advertising or marketing material of specific interest to the particular viewer.
Furthermore, viewers may not be interested in some media content. For example, some content is suitable for viewers living in a certain geographic area and not suitable for viewers living in a different area. Another example is that some viewers may be more interested in certain topic or genre areas such as sports broadcasting while others prefer programs of a different type, such as cooking shows.
Currently, there are no standards for allowing a viewer to customize their viewing preferences with respect to the content and services they receive. Current systems typically filter out program content based on viewer preference settings established in the receiver by the manufacturer of that receiver, with no input from the service provider as to the types of filtering criteria that might be suitable for the particular service. Furthermore, service providers do not have access to the viewer preference settings and thus are not able to directly tailor the user's experience of the service based on those settings.